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Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services Office of the Fire Marshal |
Ministère de la Sécurité communautaire et des Services
correctionnels |
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Place Nouveau Building 7th Floor 5775 Yonge Street North York ON M2M 4J1 Telephone 416-325-3100 Facsimile: 416-325-3162 |
Édifice Place Nouveau |
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ATTENTION: NEWS AND ASSIGNMENT EDITORS
TORONTO (September 8, 2008) - The
property owner of a house in Hamilton where five people, including three young
children, died in a fire on March 1 has been charged with two violations under
the Ontario Fire Code.
Office of the Fire Marshal investigators confirmed that no working smoke alarms
were found in the home during their investigation. As a result of this finding,
Hamilton Fire & Emergency Services has charged the property owner with one count
of failure to install working smoke alarms and a further count of failure to
maintain existing smoke alarms in operating condition.
"Compliance with the Fire Code smoke alarm requirements is the responsibility of
the property owner," said Pat Burke, Fire Marshal of Ontario. “It is
irresponsible and negligent of property owners to not provide working smoke
alarms in their homes or rental units to ensure the safety of all the occupants.
"There is no smoke alarm warning in approximately 50 per cent of all fire
fatalities in Ontario,” continued Burke. "In order to survive a fire, you need
the earliest warning possible and you need to know what to do when the smoke
alarms sound.”
"Too many people, including children, older adults and others at high risk, have
died in fires across the province this year," said Burke. “The fire service is
stepping up their enforcement efforts to ensure fire safety in the province."
It is the law to have working smoke alarms on every storey of the home and
outside all sleeping areas. For added protection, consider installing smoke
alarms inside all bedrooms. In rental accommodations, tenants who do not have
the required number of smoke alarms to meet Fire Code requirements should
contact their property owners, landlords or superintendents immediately.
Tampering with, or removing the batteries from your smoke alarms is against the
law. Failure to comply with the Fire Code smoke alarm requirements can result in
a ticket for $235 or a fine of up to $100,000.
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For more information please contact:
Marie Ainey, Office of the Fire Marshal, 416-325-3155
Bev Gilbert, Office of the Fire Marshal, 416-325-3178
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